Scholars are not unanimous about the authenticity of the pastoral epistles,[1][page needed] but it is considered pseudepigraphic by about 80% of scholars.[2] Titus is usually one of the three Pastoral epistles attributed to Paul. Titus has a very close affinity with 1 Timothy, sharing similar phrases and expressions and similar subject matter.[3][4]

The author of Titus identifies himself as "Paul, a servant of God and an apostle of Jesus Christ." According to Easton's Bible Dictionary (1893), The Epistle was probably written about the same time as the First Epistle to Timothy, with which it has many affinities."[5]

Scholars who believe Paul wrote Titus date its composition from the circumstance that it was written after Paul's visit to Crete (Titus 1:5). That visit could not be the one referred to in the Acts of the Apostles 27:7, when Paul was on his voyage to Rome as a prisoner, and where he continued a prisoner for two years. Thus traditional exegesis supposes that after his release Paul sailed from Rome into Asia, passing Crete by the way, and that there he left Titus "to set in order the things that were wanting." Thence he would have gone to Ephesus, where he left Timothy, and from Ephesus to Macedonia, where he wrote the First Epistle to Timothy, and thence, according to the subscription of this epistle, to "Nicopolis of Macedonia",[6] from which place he wrote to Titus, about 66 or 67.

The first page of the epistle in Minuscule 699 gives its title as 'προς τιτον, "To Titus."

Recent scholarship has revived the theory that Paul used an amanuensis, or secretaries, in writing his letters (e.g. Rom 16:22), but possibly Luke for the pastorals[7][8] This was a common practice in ancient letter writing, even for the biblical writers.[9][10]

The Pastoral epistles are regarded by a majority of scholars as being pseudepigraphical.[2] On the basis of the language and content of the pastoral epistles, these scholars today doubt that they were written by Paul and believe that they were written after his death. Critics claim the vocabulary and style of the Pauline letters could not have been written by Paul according to available biographical information and reflect the views of the emerging Church rather than the apostle's. These scholars date the epistle from the 80s AD up to the end of the 2nd century.[11] The Church of England's Common Worship Lectionary Scripture Commentary concurs with this view: "the proportioning of the theological and practical themes is one factor that leads us to think of these writings as coming from the post-Pauline church world of the late first or early second century".[12]

In Titus 1:9 Paul describes some among the Jewish Christians as false teachers.[14][15] Paul describes the false teachers as rebellious, empty talkers who claim to teach the law "without understanding"[16] and deceivers who deliberately lead the faithful astray.[17] Calvin wrote that vain talking (Greek: mataiologia) is contrasted here with useful doctrine, including any trivial and frivolous doctrines that contribute nothing to piety and fear of God.[18]

^"It was written to Titus, ordained the first bishop of the church of the Cretians, from Nicopolis of Macedonia." —Authorized Version subscription after Titus 3:15

Note: Sources that say Nicopolis was in Epirus are technically correct, but Epirus had become part of Macedonia (Roman province) in 146 BCE. In 110 CE under Trajan it became a province in its own right, separate from Macedonia and Achaia. The expression "Nicopolis of Macedonia" in Paul's timeframe is valid.